A Day Spent in Edmonton

Today, I just flew back from Edmonton for an interview with the Government of Alberta. I am pretty dead tired, mostly from waking up at around 3:30 in the morning from the heat in my hotel room. Here are some of my random thoughts in somewhat chronological order from the time I boarded my flight to now.

• Headed to YVR about 2.5 hours early and went to the bookstores to find new books to read. After some time spent browsing the books, I went to Tim Hortons for a hot chocolate and to review my book on interview questions. With about 1.5 hours left, I decided to head over to my gate and plug in my laptop to talk to a few people about my interview.
• When I booked my flight online and looked at the seating chart, it showed that seat D out of the consecutive seats D, E and F (I was in F) was taken. Once I was on the plane and they shut the doors, seat D was empty - I wondered whether someone missed their flight, or perhaps the person in Seat D went to sit with others.
• I arrive in Edmonton after trying to lip read about half of the movie "How to lose friends and alienate people"
• As I wait for my luggage on the conveyor belt, here are some of the strange items I see: various pieces of luggage, large crate with marker all over, red tool box and then finally my bag!
• I arrive at the hotel pretty hungry so I drop off my stuff in my room and then head down to Madison's Grill (the restaurant in the Union Bank Inn) for a candy almond crusted salmon. I liked the mix of sweet and salty and want to try making it myself one day.
• Everybody else in the restaurant is dressed quite nicely. I, on the other hand, am dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and try my best to look as inconspicuous as possible.
• After eating the delicious salmon (love seafood!), I head back to my room to try to get some sleep. I totally forget about the jet lag and so I end up falling asleep about an hour after I try to sleep.
• 4 hours later, I wake up from the heat of the room. I had turned the fan off earlier (there was only one fan for the room and no separate fan for the bathroom) so that I could fall asleep but it had gotten so hot that I woke up anyway. I try to fall back asleep with various combinations of fans on / off, blankets on / off and with the window not opening, I get up and decide to prep for my interview by reviewing my questions and answers again.
• Around 7 AM, I get a wake-up call. Before I went to bed, I looked around for the fitness room and see that there is a treadmill and a step machine as well as a few dumbbells. I head down to the fitness room for a 20 min run and then come back up to shower.
• I head down to breakfast and order the West Coast Eggs (smoked salmon, poached eggs and a lemon dill hollandaise sauce with a fresh fruit salad and some taters). After exchanging some kind words with the waitress, I head back up to change.
• As I walk to the Law Courts Building, I realize that I did not bring enough clothing. It is -3 and significantly colder than I thought it would be. (Later on, I heard from my taxi driver that it was -42 a few weeks ago, I secretly feel glad that I wasn't here to interview then)
• I thought the interview went well - I got a tour of the 3 libraries and meet many of the staff working there. I also get a very cool story of the heritage room (built by the grandson of Nelly McClung). It reminds me of the heritage core in the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre.
• At around 11, the manager of the interviewed position, a coworker and I head to the foodcourts through the underground passages. The underground passages are very cool and remind me of the very cool +15's in Calgary
• I get to the YEG and try to find books to read that have nothing to do with interviewing or programming. I mull over buying the Watchmen comic book but finally decide to leave without it (though I feel that if given another chance, I would buy it)
• Once I claimed my luggage, I went to the bookstores in YVR looking for the Watchmen comic but cannot find it (oh well). I head home and now I'm going to crash

All in all, it was a great experience in Edmonton despite the cold and the lack of sleep.

Another Phone Interview But Not The Same Strategy

Recently, I had a phone interview with the Government of Alberta for probably one of the coolest positions I have seen in a while. I'm so glad that they called for a phone interview - even if I don't get the job, it helps to boost my confidence that I am putting out good resumes and cover letters that attract employers.

To prep, I did much of the same work I did for my previous phone interviews at Google and Laserfiche. I wrote down questions that I thought they would ask and then answered them myself while practicing my stories over and over. Even though I do have a pretty decent memory, I won't be able to memorize and recite any of my stories during the interview - but that doesn't matter, the fact that I have thought about the stories I want to talk about and also the different experiences that I highlight in each story helps me trigger responses during the actual interview.

When doing a phone interview, or any interview for that matter, every little bit helps. I didn't dress super fancy, but I certainly wore a dress shirt and some nice pants to help me feel that I was in an interview (or formal setting). I made sure that I sat up and my posture was good so that I sound confident and relaxed over the phone. Sure a lot of these things are in other interview articles but to read about them and to practice them are two very different things.

I think what was very different about this preparation however, was the fact that I actually tailored a lot of my answers to the questions I thought I would give. For instance, if they asked "tell me about your approach to problem solving", I would describe a time I solved a problem and all the steps I took, then (and this is the important part), I would think about what kind of problem solving this opportunity had and then tie that into my answer.

So for example: Tell me about your approach to problem solving (position is web administrator)

During my work as ... for ...

....

.... (story over)

I know that this experience in problem solving will be valuable in my role as ... when I am helping to troubleshoot bugs on web pages.


I'm not even sure why I never did this before because it is such a simple thing to do and makes it easy for the interviewer to see that

1. You've done your research and you're pretty enthusiastic about the responsibilities of this position

2. You have good experience and it is transferable to the new position

3. You sum up your answers (which is good if you've talked a fairly long time about your experience)


Good luck with all your job searches!

I've ran out of jobs to apply to.. what now?

I have been looking for and applying to jobs for a while now, about 4 months going on 5 to be more exact. Although I wasn't exactly conservative while there were many jobs to apply to, lately, I have been doing more research into potential jobs and the employers to see whether or not I really would be a good fit for that company. As a result of waiting (and the best things come to those who wait), I only apply to a few jobs a week now instead of the few jobs I applied to every day when I started out.

Sometimes, you'll find that there are no jobs which you can apply to, whether the requirements are out of your reach or you don't see the job as a good fit for you and it's a good idea to take a break when potential jobs are low just so that you don't burn out from doing research and applying every day.

But what happens when you just run out of jobs to apply to?

I can think of a few things that I'm doing now that might be good if you're not doing them:

1. Re-apply to those jobs you've applied to but did not hear from

Don't apply to those jobs that are filled obviously, but if they're still hiring, try applying again. This was a great piece of advice I got from a family friend and the worst thing they can do is reject you again anyway so why not try applying again? My one piece of advice is to update your resume before applying again though. While it's possible that you did absolutely nothing between the time you first applied and now, I think it is highly likely that you have accomplished something during that time (for example, building your own site, or starting your own blog, etc.) and you can add some of those things to your resume so that it isn't exactly the same as before.

And if you do get some sort of part time job or you've started to volunteer at a company, update your resume and then reapply to any jobs you really want. Again, employers can at worst only reject you again and maybe persistence is what you need to get that dream job you want.

2. Build your own site or Publish your own blog!

Check out some of these blogs: Jamie Varon, Lindsey Pollak, Cindy Burns.

The one by Lindsey Pollak isn't exactly a blog about someone looking for work but it features all these great articles about your career search and great advice for job seekers in general. The other two are blogs about job seeking.

What I'm saying is blogging about your job search experience is a great way of helping you to remember all the things you've done and to make sure you that you don't repeat any of your past mistakes. By entering the community of blogging and seeking out other job seeking bloggers, you won't feel so alone and hey, this is also a great way of developing your writing skills.

By building a blog or a site, you increase your online presence and make it easier for potential employers to find you on the internet - make sure to include links to your resume or online resume on your sites so that anyone who does make it to your site has an easy way of reaching you if they're interested in learning more about you.

I think the other great thing about blogging or building your own personal site is you develop some web 2.0 skills that are very valuable in a world where the internet is increasingly more important and vital for companies. Don't think of this as time wasted because this is a part of your job search! And this way, you won't be waiting around not doing anything productive while waiting for those potential jobs to come in - you'll be developing your skills, your own personal brand and your online presence all at the same time.